Macedonio: Experimentation leads to creation

For the first time in a long time, the Meadowlands and Yonkers are working together and achieving great success! Ok, maybe Joey (Faraldo) and Jeffy (Gural) aren’t singing Kumbaya around a campfire, but those two tracks are implementing a proven model for success . . . a culture of innovation.

I’m not going to sit here and nitpick about each idea and change that they’ve brought about, because I think it’s important to look at the long-term, the bigger picture. When any business plan is set forward, you need a long-term vision and goal. It doesn’t matter how nefarious or civic that long term goal may be, it just matters that you have one.

I have no idea what the long-term goals are for The Meadowlands or Yonkers, but I’m willing to support the process. The reason is because most of the time the process actually changes the long-term goal in the end. This is how science works, you try something, you make observations, take notes, do some research, brainstorm ideas, make an alteration, and repeat until you have a formidable product . . . or die.

Thomas Edison didn’t fail at making a light bulb 1,000 times. The light bulb took 1,000 steps to create. Do we actually know if he was setting out to make a light bulb in its final product on the first attempt? My guess is absolutely not, but he kept making adjustments to the design and eventually created the final product that worked. Now imagine if another scholar was watching Edison after the first try and it failed, and the response was, “Give up Tommy, it didn’t work.” That’s just bad science and harness racing is swirling in bad science.

Going back to Yonkers and The Meadowlands, they’re doing some good science stuff! Make a change; get feedback; create discussions; filter the good ideas; make a change; try it again. Eventually some good science stuff will come out of this culture. They aren’t afraid to change and that is the best part of this. When fear is eliminated, creativity can actually spawn! Ideas can be explored without the fear of rejection in step 1.

It’s ok to criticize, because that’s how everything adapts. Try to offer a compromise and a solution to improve whatever changes are being offered. Competition always increases the quality of a product, so let’s hope that Yonkers and The Meadowlands keep pushing each other, because one day, they both may create a light bulb out of sand.